This invention relates generally to a cutting blade holder assembly which includes a first subassembly attachable to a machine frame, and a second subassembly coupled to the first subassembly and being removable therefrom, a cutting tool having a substantially circular outer contour being mounted on the second subassembly.
A pair or pairs of cooperating blades are used to process substrates, for example, relatively wide webs of paper, film, fabric, metal, plastic or the like, by slitting or perforating the webs in the longitudinal direction to form narrow strips. After such operation, the resulting slitted strips travel together to another processing machine, such as a winding machine at which the cut strips are wound into rolls. The cutting tool usually comprises one or more cutting pairs including an upper circular cutting blade and a lower circular interacting knife blade designed as a counter-tool.
The substrate to be machined, for example, a web of paper, may bear against a lower rotatable cylinder for effecting the longitudinal slits. During the machining operation the cutting tools must interact with one another so that a desired machining quality can be obtained. Thus, if during a scissor cut effected with rotary upper and lower knives, the interacting edges to not interact well with one another during the cutting operation, unclean cut edges of the paper web will result which can lead to problems during the subsequent winding operation of the cut strips. Similar undesired consequences can occur if the web of paper, film, fabric, plastic, metal or the like is not cleanly perforated during the machining operation.
The cutting tool or tools are mounted in a holder or holders side-by-side on a guide or the like so that several strips lying side-by-side can be cut simultaneously from an endless web.
In order to maintain the cutting tools aligned during the machining operation, they are supported by such holders mounted on the processing machine. Such a holder is disclosed in European Patent No. 0 333 001 which includes a first holding device which can be inserted into and attached to the machine frame. A second holding device is coupled to the first device and is removable therefrom, the cutting tool in the shape of a circular knife blade or perforated knife or the like being attached to the second holding device. In such manner the cutting tool can be removed, when necessary, and replaced by another tool. The first and second holding devices of the prior art holder are, however, designed in such manner that the knife blade is rotatably supported on opposite sides. Thus, the cutting tool holder must be relatively long in the direction of the axis of rotation of the cutting tool. And, the distance between individual knives arranged side-by-side in the machine can be arranged only as short as the overall design of the holder permits. Since this known holder is of such relatively wide dimension in the axial direction of the knife blade, only relatively wide strips can be cut from a substrate.